"We seem to do better outside the office. I guess it's easier for us to forget that what we each do for a living contradicts the other."
"I don't know. We're just working on different ends of a life experience, that's all." He stopped abruptly, sitting back in his chair, as a stunning redhead walked over to the table. "Vanessa," he murmured.
Vanessa? His ex-wife Vanessa?
Chapter Eight
"It's been awhile," Vanessa said, as Barrett rose to his feet, looking more than a little uncomfortable.
"It has," he agreed.
"I should have figured I'd run into you here. It's your favorite place."
"And I never thought I'd run into you here," Barrett replied shortly. "You were never a fan of Sonny's."
"A client of mine is having a birthday party in the private room."
He nodded, his jaw tight. "Okay."
"How have you been?" Vanessa asked.
"Great." He didn't bother to ask how she had been.
As Kate watched the two of them give each other a long, tense look, she wondered if there was any love still between them or if it was anger that put the crackle in the air.
Barrett seemed like he'd completely forgotten she was there, and the model-pretty redhead hadn't even bothered to acknowledge her.
"We should talk sometime," Vanessa said. "I have been thinking about you lately. My father is having a retirement party next week. He mentioned he wouldn't mind seeing you there."
"I don't think so," Barrett said.
"You used to like my dad."
He shrugged.
"It wasn't all bad, Barrett," she continued.
"I think you've forgotten a lot."
"Or maybe you have. You look good." Her gaze ran down his fit, handsome body.
"So do you," he muttered.
As another awkward pause dropped between them, Kate cleared her throat.
Barrett started, giving her a quick glance. "Sorry. This is Vanessa—Richards," he said, stumbling over the last name. "You went back to your maiden name, didn't you?"
"I did," she said shortly.
"This is Kate Marlow."
"Hello," she said.
Vanessa gave her a nod and a quick, "Hello." Then she said, "I need to meet my client. Think about the party, Barrett. It's a week from Friday. It would mean a lot to my father."
"I doubt your fiancé would appreciate my presence."
"Oh." Her expression changed, a bleak look entering her eyes. "There is no fiancé, not anymore. This one was smart enough to bail before the wedding," she said with a touch of sarcasm. "My father's party is at Rutherford's Steak House, seven thirty."
"I'm sorry, but I can't make it."
She sighed. "All right. I'll let him know."
As Vanessa moved away, Barrett sat down, his jaw still tight, dark shadows in his eyes.
"So, that's your ex," she murmured.
"I can't believe she came here. She always hated this place. She wanted to go to restaurants where she could be seen."
"She's very attractive." She licked her lips. "Any lingering feelings?"
"God, no." Anger tightened his lips. "Why would you ask me that?"
"That was a very tense conversation. You two were caught up in each other. You forgot I was even here."
"I didn't forget. I was just surprised to see her, that's all. There's nothing left between us."
"She wants you to come to her father's party. She looked at you like she'd forgotten how attractive you are."
He frowned. "If she wants me to come to that party, it's because she needs me for something. Vanessa is a user. She's your best friend when she wants something. It took me too long to figure that out, but I won't forget it. Our relationship has been over for three years. There's nothing left. I'm sorry if you felt left out—"
"I didn't feel left out," she interrupted. "I was just curious. That was one of the most awkward conversations I've witnessed in a while."
He blew out an angry breath. "I apologize for that. Vanessa never brought out the best in me, and that's apparently still the case. To be fair, I didn't bring out the best in her, either. We looked good on paper. Everyone said we were perfect together. Our families liked each other. In fact, my mother adored Vanessa. Vanessa was going to be the daughter she never had. But while Vanessa might have fit into my family better than I did, she did not fit with me. Or maybe I'm just not a man who should be married. I'm just glad we broke it up before we had a kid."
She inwardly flinched as his words reminded her of her past. "That was good. Bringing a kid into a terrible situation is never a smart idea."
His gaze filled with apology. "I'm sorry, Kate. I hit a nerve, didn't I?"
"It's fine. You and my father are not the same person."
"Definitely not. I wouldn't have walked away from my child, no matter how I felt about Vanessa. I don't have any respect for men who walk away from their kids. I dropped a client last month because he wanted to get out of paying child support."
"Really?"
"Yes," he said, holding her gaze. "The kid deserved better."
"I'm glad you stood up for what you believed in."
"I always do. I think you do, too."
"Most of the time. I bend a lot when it comes to brides, but I try not to cross any lines I shouldn't cross. At the end of the day, I have to be proud of what I do. It's not always easy, though. Sometimes I need money to make rent and pay bills. It's a juggling act."
"Which you seem to do well, even with one hand in a splint." He paused. "By the way, how did your friends like the favors?"
"They loved them and were sure their guys would, too."
"Are these friends from childhood?"
"No, they're from college. My freshman year in the dorms, I got into a group of girls, and we became very close, very tight friends. After graduation, we vowed that no matter where we were in life, we'd come back and stand up for each other. There are eight of us in the group, and Jessica and Maggie will be the sixth and seventh brides to get married in the past few years. It's been a crazy time."
"So, wait a second. Does that mean you're the only single woman left?"
She made a face at him. "Yes, and that's a fact everyone loves to point out to me. But I don't care. It's not a race to the finish, and I don't feel like an old maid yet. Maybe in a few years."
He smiled. "I don't see you as an old maid, not with your romantic view of life. Have you planned all the weddings?"
"Every single one, but this next one is a double wedding, and I've never done that before. I want to make sure that both Jess and Maggie feel like it's their special day. It's especially important because Jessica had a very short, very bad marriage when we were seniors in college. She got pregnant and she and her boyfriend decided to do the right thing and get married, but they weren't really in love, and her boyfriend quickly realized that he also didn't want to be a husband or a father, so Jess ended up a single mom. And before you try to blame the wedding, she got married in a courthouse, with about ten people there."
"I didn't say every divorce was because of the wedding."
"This one definitely wasn't. Anyway, for a long time, Jessica didn't feel like she deserved a second chance, nor did she have time to fall in love. She had a son to take care of. But last year she met Reid, and he swept her off her feet, almost literally. He's a fireman. He had to rescue her from a doghouse."
"That sounds like a story."
"I don't know all the details, but her son called 911 when he realized his mother was stuck, and that's how they met. Jessica is a teacher in Half Moon Bay. She and Reid are moving into a pretty new house on the coast after the wedding."
"What about Maggie? What's her story? How did she meet her fiancé?" he asked with interest.
"She was working for a hotel in Napa, the Stratton, when a really grungy guy came in, and her manager insisted she give him the worst room in the house. He didn't want that kind of guest in the hotel. Maggie was reluctant to follo
w through, which was a good thing, because the guest was undercover. Cole was, in fact, the owner's nephew, and he was there to see how the hotel was operating. Maggie and Cole ended up falling in love, and they recently bought an old inn that is part of a winery in Napa. They're refurbishing it together."
"Another great story. Who else is in the group?"
"This cannot be interesting for you."
"On the contrary, I'm intrigued."
"Well, there's Andrea and her twin sister, Laurel. Laurel was the first to get married. She and Greg were high school sweethearts. Then her sister, Andrea, met Alexander Donovan, the billionaire toy and game maker, when she was sent to interview him. They fell in love and got married. Julie married a baseball player, Matt Kingsley."
"Wait, I know that name. He plays for the Cougars. He's a superstar."
"Not just in baseball, also in life. Julie was really reluctant to fall in love with him, because her father was also an amazing ballplayer but a not-so-great husband and father. She was afraid Matt would be the same, but he's not. Julie actually runs Matt's charitable foundation. And then there's Liz and Michael. They knew each other in high school and then fell in love when they were competing for some PR business. Michael Stafford was a pro football player, but he got injured and went into the PR business with his sister. But that didn't last too long. He's a coach at Stanford now."
"I don't follow football as much as baseball," Barrett commented.
"Last but not least is Isabella. She's a dance teacher and Nick is in the hotel business. They met when he had to learn the tango to impress an Argentinian investor."
Barrett laughed. "Come on. Seriously?"
"No lie. And Isabella said he was not the best student. But they fell in love."
"You have quite a crew."
"And it's getting bigger. Andrea and Liz both have kids now and Julie is expecting."
"Everyone lives close by?"
"Within a few hours."
"You're lucky."
"Really lucky," she agreed. "They're the best friends in the world, even aside from all the wedding mania. They're the kind of people who are there for you when you need them. I'm sure you have friends like that."
"Not quite so many, but I have a couple of friends from college and a few more from law school who I stay in touch with."
"Have you always worked in your own law office?"
"No. I started out in a big firm doing corporate law, working a million hours a week. I lasted about four years." He paused. "Vanessa's father was a partner at that firm. That's how Vanessa and I met actually—at a company party."
"Oh. Now I understand why she'd think you'd be interested in going to her father's retirement party."
"He was a mentor to me. I liked him very much. In the end, I probably liked him more than I did Vanessa."
"Did you leave the firm because of your divorce?"
"No, I left six months before we separated. I was tired of what I was doing, and I had an offer to work in family law. I liked the idea of doing something more personal. But taking that job was a step back, not a step forward in terms of money and stature, and Vanessa was not happy about it. She didn't understand why I couldn't be happy doing the same job her father had been doing for years. It was probably close to the final straw."
"Well, you should do what you're passionate about. And as your wife, she should have supported you."
"I thought so, too."
"It was your job, not hers."
"Exactly. But my salary went down, the people I was working with changed, and she felt like I'd changed, which I had. I was finally being true to myself. Now, I run my own firm, and for the most part, my clients are great. Tonight's incident was an exception."
"I hope so." She looked up as Sonny came over to the table.
"How did you like your food?" Sonny asked.
"It was fantastic," she answered. "The best pasta I've ever had."
"Thank you," Sonny said, beaming with pleasure at her words.
"It was great, as always," Barrett added. "And I want to see the bill this time."
"Never. At Sonny's, you always eat for free." Sonny glanced back at Kate. "Did Barrett tell you what he did for me?"
"No, he didn't."
"You don't need to get into that old story," Barrett protested.
"He saved my life," Sonny said.
"He's exaggerating," Barrett cut in.
"Not even a little bit," Sonny said, with a shake of his head.
"Well, tell me the story," she urged.
"My wife, Theresa, hired Barrett to be her divorce attorney. We were having trouble in our marriage about three years ago, but I didn't really know what had changed, why my wife was so distant. Barrett convinced Theresa to share a painful, personal secret she'd been carrying around for a long time. It was a secret she couldn't bear for me to find out, so she thought she'd divorce me before that could happen. But Barrett urged her to talk to me about it. We worked things out and found our way back to each other. Of course, Barrett lost her business, so I try to make it up to him in free meals."
"I've told you before, there's nothing to be made up," Barrett said.
"I'm glad you got your wife back," she said.
Sonny gave her a smile. "I have a feeling you want to know what the secret was."
"I would never ask you that," she replied, although she was very curious.
"It's not a secret anymore. My stepbrother made a move on Theresa when she had too much wine one night. She'd been drinking a lot that week. Her mother had passed on, and she was struggling. My stepbrother took photos of her passed out on a bed, making it look like they'd slept together. Then he blackmailed her. He wanted me to invest in his business, and I had already said no. After Theresa told me what was happening, I was furious—at both of them, if I'm being honest. But when I really listened to Theresa, I started to understand that the situation was more complicated. I hadn't understood that she'd started drinking not only because she was missing her mother but also because she was lonely. I was here at the restaurant every night. I had put work before my marriage." Sonny glanced at Barrett. "If Theresa and I hadn't listened to Barrett, we might be divorced now."
"You're giving me too much credit," Barrett said. "I just got you in the room together. You and Theresa did the rest."
"You have no idea how difficult it was for us to talk to each other," Sonny said, giving Barrett a grateful smile. "Anyway, it's all good now. Communication is the key. You two should remember that."
At his curious glance, she immediately shook her head. "We're not together like that. We're just…friends."
"What she said," Barrett added as Sonny's gaze moved to him. "We share office space. That's it."
"All right. I'll leave it alone," Sonny said with amusement. "But if I could give you both just a little advice—life is shorter than you think. Don't waste a second. Now, I must see to the other diners. Please come back soon."
"You certainly have a devoted fan," she said to Barrett as Sonny left.
"I really didn't do that much. I tell people to talk all the time. Most of them don't. Luckily, Sonny and Theresa did."
She nodded, thinking Barrett had a lot more depth than she'd first thought. "Do you wish you'd tried to talk more honestly with Vanessa?"
"I wish I'd done a lot of things differently. But it's all in the past. I can't change it, so I move on."
"Next time, you'll do it differently."
He frowned. "I told you. There isn't going to be a next time."
"Everyone says that and then they meet the right person, and it changes. One mistake doesn't have to mean you're done with love for life."
"I can have love without marriage."
"Can you?" she countered. "Real love that lasts forever? I think marriage makes a difference. My mother said she was so in love with my father that she didn't feel she needed a piece of paper. But as soon as something happened that my father didn't like, like my birth, he took off."
; "He probably would have done the same even if he was married to your mother."
"Or maybe he would have tried a little harder for a little longer."
His gaze softened. "You can't blame yourself for breaking them up. You were a baby."
"I don't blame myself. I blame him. Actually, I blame both of them for not figuring out what they really wanted before they conceived me."
"People in love can be impulsive and reckless."
"I know. But it's not an excuse."
"It sounds to me like you're going to want a guarantee before you go down the aisle."
"Not a guarantee, just someone willing to commit to me in front of my family and friends. And, yes, I know I could still end up in divorce. But I feel like I have a better chance of beating those odds if I make sure I've found the right person, someone who wants what I want."
"And that hasn't happened yet."
"Not yet, but when it's right, it will be right."
"What if you fall in love with someone who doesn't want to get married?"
"I don't think I could," she murmured, although as she studied Barrett's handsome face in the candlelight, she had a feeling she was lying to herself. "I want everything: the engagement, the wedding, the marriage, the happily ever after. And I think I deserve it."
He stared back at her, his gaze unreadable. "If that's what you want, it's what you should have."
She didn’t know how their conversation had gotten so deep so fast. Barrett had just built a pretty solid wall between them, reminding her that he did not want what she wanted. She needed to tamp down the attraction she was feeling toward him. He might be sexy as hell, with lips she really wanted to kiss, but she couldn't go down that road.
"We should go," she said. "It's getting crowded, and I'm sure Sonny would like the table."
"Right," he said, glancing around the room. "I didn't realize all the tables had filled up."
She grabbed her bag and Barrett led her out of the restaurant.
As they hit the street, she pulled her coat more tightly around her shoulders. Fog had descended on San Francisco, and it was a cold, wintry night. As they walked down the dark alley, Barrett took her hand in his, and a searing warmth ran through her. She wanted to hang on to that heat, but she had a feeling if she did, she could get burned.
DREAMING OF YOU GO PL Page 8